And then there were three.

I don't even know where to begin this post. I guess I'll start from my week 39 update.

All week long I had irregular contractions. Starting Sunday morning, I woke up in a bit of pain from them so I stayed home from church. I made it in to work most of the week, but Tuesday I didn't get there until lunchtime because I had woken up with contractions. Thursday I went to the doctor completely expecting her to induce me or something because I was having quite a bit of pain in my hips, swelling, and of course the irregular contractions. No dice. She did an exam (which hurt) and told me I was on the schedule for induction March 7 (4 days after my original due date). But she told me that she thought I would labor, rather than see March 7th. When she said that, I was determined to do anything to encourage this boy to come on out before that date.

Thursday also happened to be my last day of work. I had some days to take before I started my maternity leave, so Friday I slept in a little longer than normal, got up and got dressed to start running some errands. I figured I probably had over a week to get everything done since my brother and I had both come a week past our due dates and supposedly your labor is similar to your mom's. As I got ready I noticed I was having contractions again, and they were quite a bit closer together than they had been in the past week. I started timing them, but they were 10 minutes, 7 minutes, 12 minutes...you know, nothing that made me feel the need to change my plans.

I decided to walk as much that day and weekend as I possibly could. I went to Wal-mart and filled my buggy with nothing but junk food. I walked from one side of the store to the other, having contractions off and on that seemed to be getting stronger. I ran through a drive thru for a beef burrito for lunch but decided I didn't like it, so I only ate half. I would end up regretting that later.

That afternoon I decided that I would have more fun timing my contractions at the movie theater than sitting watching soap operas. I headed to the mall to watch The King's Speech with a Coke Slurpee and some Junior Mints. During the movie (excellent, by the way), the contractions slowed down so afterward I decided to walk the mall. In the last two weeks of my pregnancy, my right hip had begun to hurt so badly that I was walking slowly and with a little limp, so I'm sure I was quite a sight. After 30 minutes, of that I headed home.

Last weekend was D-Now at our church, and since we knew we'd be close to Baby Jack Day we didn't make any official commitments to be there. Friday night Brad headed over to where his Sunday school class was staying, and I decided that it would be more fun to hang out with my class than sit at home in pain. I was still having contractions, but they weren't regular...some at 5 minutes, 7 minutes, 9 minutes, etc. It was good to see the girls (and boys!) They are such a joy, and it lifted my spirits to be with them!

Around 10 PM, I decided to head home. I had been enjoying talking to some of the other adult leader ladies for a while, but it seemed like the contractions had kicked it up a notch. I started timing them once I got in the car, and the first two were 3 1/2 minutes apart. Whoops--might've stayed a little too long. B texted to ask how I was, and I sent back, "You need to meet me at the house."

We timed them for about 40 minutes before paging my doctor. I don't know if I've mentioned this on the blog, but my doctor is in Dallas--which means I'd be delivering over there too. She told us to head on over.

Calling the Doctor.

We got there a little before midnight. I had progressed from my doctor visit the day before, so my doc decided to keep me and gave the orders that I could have my epidural whenever I was ready. My contractions were staying anywhere from 3-5 minutes apart, and I was ready for some pain management. They had me hooked up and comfortable so fast, and I was amazed at the relief. Modern technology is truly amazing. The anesthesiologist who hooked me up was a longhorn. My nurse had told him we were Aggies. I laughed and said, "Maybe you should've waited until he was done to tell him that!" He talked me all the way through the procedure and had a great bedside manner. After it was over and life was so much better, I told him he was the best longhorn I had ever met! By then it was around 2 am, and our parents were on their way to the hospital.

I labored for about 17 hours before I started pushing. It was an incredibly long day, and I hadn't had really anything of substance to eat since lunch and not much then. Of course I wasn't able to get much sleep because I was excited. Around 2 PM I began pushing. A little over 2 hours later, our boy made his miraculous appearance into this world. It was by far the most amazing moment of my life so far. When he made his first cry (and boy, was he mad!) Brad and I locked eyes, and there were just NO WORDS. None. Nothing could describe it.

I delivered at big Baylor in downtown Dallas, and praise God, my doctor was the one on call this past weekend. Once I started pushing, she was at the foot of my bed for all but maybe 20 minutes. She was wonderful. The nurses who took care of me were so awesome. The L&D nurse assigned to me all day was so kind and was on top of every request I made. If I was in pain, the nurse anesthetist was responding in less than 5 minutes. My night nurse in post-partum was a super star. She had just come on shift when I was transferred up there, so she got to walk me through the worst of the post-partum stuff. I have a new appreciation for nurses, most definitely.

So that's the story of how Baby Jack came into this world. Next up, an infinite number of posts on how incredibly special and wonderful this little boy is.